Page Freed After Serving 8 Months

Former Orlando City Council member Ernest Page was freed from jail Tuesday, eight months after he was put behind bars for dealing in stolen property.

Page, 44, was released from the Orange County Jail's 33rd Street facility at 7:35 a.m., said jail Capt. Larry Bacon. Page could not be reached for comment.

Page began his 51-week sentence Aug. 5. Jail officials said his sentence was cut by the standard time off for good behavior.

Jail Cmdr. Mike Penn said Page, who was made a trusty shortly after he arrived, was a good prisoner.

''We never had any major problems with Mr. Page,'' Penn said.

Penn said Page did janitorial work at the 33rd Street jail.

Page, who was elected to the city council in 1980, was convicted in January 1984 of six counts of grand theft after his arrest in an undercover investigation by Orlando police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. During the August 1983 investigation, Page was secretly videotaped buying stolen office equipment and other items from a police informant after he was told the property was stolen.

At his trial Page did not dispute buying the property. But he said police were trying to frame him

because he is black. He also said he was trying to investigate a stolen property ring on his own.

Assistant State Attorney Belvin Perry, who prosecuted Page, said Page still must pay a $9,000 fine and perform 1,000 hours of community service work.

''Ernie Page has paid a great portion of his debt to society,'' Perry said Tuesday. ''I sincerely hope he can re-take his place in the community and move on with his life.''